Star Wars Rogue One Official Trailer Lands at Last and the whole Galaxy is united in Approval

It took longer than anticipated but the ‘proper’ trailer for Rogue One is here. The teaser had been released earlier this year but this is the big one. The shots that give us a greater sense of the visual and dramatic landscape in which the story will unfold. It’s the most endlessly faked / click baited and arguably the most anticipated trailer of the year.

The piece is very well crafted. Yes, we see more details. Yes we see VADER! And finally, a sense that the tone will indeed be foreboding and ‘dark’ (one feels the Rebels might lose and the action is like a Star Wars answer to Saving Private Ryan), but the levity will be in there, naturally. The interaction with the droids is especially close to the beats of charming dialogue in the original trilogy, without ever simply copying said films (cough cough Force Awakens).

Aesthetically this is at once fresh and original and a beautiful piece of nostalgia. In short: precisely the kind of thing that we wanted to see in the prequel trilogy and are finally seeing now. It’s new and old at once. Before the original trilogy yet in that same arc, look and atmosphere.

In terms of expanding Star Wars lore, it looks a dead cert for new insights to the civil structures of the universe in which characters operate. We see more of the ‘average’ rebel; those who perhaps know of the Force /Jedi but are not the chosen ones. I also sense that there will be a glimpse at imperial politics / military tactics, whilst avoiding the dry lectures about ‘taxation disputes’ that let down a certain ‘other’ film.

There are some risks here. Already there are viewers confused as to the stand alone film’s relation to the sequel trilogy and this could help or harm Episode 8 and vice versa. Saturation is another possibility: are we in danger of having too much Star Wars? I feel those will be quite minor considerations once the release approaches. If we have Marvel and DC films each year in differing continuities, then why not Star Wars? This is an endlessly ripe universe to mine for stories, imagery and cinematic adventures.

I do hope that the film will be dedicated to Kenny Baker, the actor who played R2D2 since 1977. He sadly died in the past few days. He was 83.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is Directed by Gareth Edwards and stars Felicity Jones. It will be released in December and we shall review it here on Movie Viral.